Welcome to the inaugural edition of Genesis Does. The review article that looks at all things Sega Genesis. To cut the treacle of just talking about the great grey box over the summer, and since this great console hasn’t been given a proper focus on this great site, I figured that it’s time to spend some time talking about this classic machine and its library of excellent titles.
I’ve talked before in great detail that the NES was the first console I ever owned. But the 2nd console, the Sega Genesis, is the machine I have the fondest memories of. I got my Genesis on Christmas in 1993, and it was to this day the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever received. I chose the Genesis over the SNES at the time due to being a major Sonic The Hedgehog fan due to the cartoons and comic books released at the time. When I got Sonic 2 as a kid, I was ecstatic. I managed to beat it not too long after getting it, but I would play that game for days and days. I had my original Genesis up until 2000 when it broke, and as a fool I gave away my games.
But as most of you who have followed my articles know, I became a retro collector in 2007, and the 2nd system I would start buying games for would be the Genesis. To this day, the Genesis still remains in my heart and my mind a truly underrated console. While it lacked in RPGs, and may not have been as advanced as the SNES, the Genesis still delivered where it counts, and that’s in the gameplay department. While it may not have had Mode 7 or fancy stereo sound, and while Blast Processing was just a buzz word, the games on the Genesis could still deliver in sound and graphics, and many pushed the console to its limits. And to prove it, we start with one of my favorite games on the Genesis. Not to mention one that is extremely underrated.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1995
PUBLISHER: Sega
GENRE: Action platformer
Batman: The Animated Series was the hit animated spinoff of the titular dark knight. The cartoon has often been credited by many animation and comic book fans as not just the best Batman cartoon, not just the best superhero cartoon, but as perhaps the best cartoon of the 90’s. It was the Batman we all wanted. Doing away with the more campy, and kiddy styles of the past, and replacing it with darker, more action packed adventures that pushed the boundaries of what could be put on a cartoon that was for the most part aimed at kids. The show’s 2nd season would be dubbed “The Adventures of Batman and Robin”, and would have more episodes that would feature Robin. The show was a massive hit, and like all massive hits, it would see a plethora of video game releases.
Konami would pick up the development rights for the Nintendo ports of any animated Batman game, while Sega still had the rights to use the character. They would go for a new video game company to develop the game, a company known as Clockwork Tortoise. Clockwork Tortoise was a brand new company that was made from former Malibu Games employees. They would work with Sega to create an Adventures of Batman and Robin video game. In 1995, the game would see its release, but to mediocre sales.
The main reason could easily be that by 1995, the Genesis was waning in popularity. Nintendo had more or less owned them with Donkey Kong Country the year prior, and Sega was already trying to push head first into the 32-bit era. Not to mention the game got major critical flack for its difficulty. The biggest downer here is that this and the Sega CD version would be the only video games Clockwork Tortoise would make. They would shut their doors down soon after. But did the one Genesis game they gave us really as bad as some people claimed?
COVER STORY
I love this cover. It’s got official show art, almost all of the important characters in the game are present, and it more or less tells you the story of the game up front. It’s a definite eye catcher, and I remember it easily catching my eye when I rented it way back in 1995.
STORY
Arkham Asylum has many of Batman’s most nefarious foes locked up where they belong. However, on one eventful night, the cold hearted Mr. Freeze pulls off a successful escape attempt. He frees The Joker, Two-Face, and The Mad Hatter, and lets them loose on Gotham City to Keep Batman and Robin busy while he works on his freeze ray that will put Gotham in a permanent winter. It’s up to the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder to put these criminals behind bars once and for all.
GAMEPLAY
Batman is a Co-Op action platformer. You control Batman and Robin as you go through four large worlds and defeat the four villains, and put a stop to Mr. Freeze once and for all. You move Batman or Robin with the D-Pad, you shoot your weapon with the A or C button, and B will jump. A six button controller is not necessary for this game. You can duck with the down button, hang on ledges after jumping by holding up, and jump off platforms with Down and B.
Batman and Robin’s mode of attack is their weapons. By holding A or C you can fire whatever weapon you have at the moment. You will be able to get one of three different weapons. The Fire Batarang, which can fire large shots in three directions at a time. The Blue Shuriken, which will fire three at a time as well, but are smaller and weaker. And finally the Bat Bolas, which is a giant green stick that you can only fire one of at a time. It’s the strongest weapon, but slower, and lacking in the solid range that the fire batarang has. You can fire each weapon constantly, but you can also let each weapon charge into a stronger shot, as shown in the meter on the top of your screen. A charged shot is usually far more powerful than a basic weapon shot.
You collect these weapons from spinning Batman icons that you can find throughout the level. It changes colors representing which weapon you can choose from. Each time you collect the same color weapon as the one you’re currently using, it will upgrade into a stronger attack, usually giving it more damage in its shot, or more range. The one that takes the most upgrades is the Fire Batarang, which will change its shot amount from three at a time to one as you progress. Be careful though, as getting another weapon can screw with your upgrades, and a fully upgraded weapon will be important if you want to make it anywhere in this game.
Other items you collect in your journey are hearts that will replenish your health, skull balls that will blow up every enemy on screen, spinning orb that will auto charge your weapon for a short period of time, and 1-ups. Most 1-ups in the game are actually pretty hard to find, and require certain tricks to get. For example, in the first level, there are two rows of clowns that will drop on the top platform. Destroy them all before they move and you get an extra life. There aren’t very many in the game, so you’ll have to make sure to do as best as possible with them.
There are four levels in the game, each broken down to about 2-4 stages each. The first level is “Happy Birthday to Me”, which you will have to face off with The Joker. You’ll start on city streets, facing off with waves of clown goons. Ones which just come at you attacking, ones that shoot their blasters at you, and heavy clowns that can do more damage, and also throw dynamite in later stages. You’ll face off with the Joker’s main henchman, the lovesick psychopath Harley Quinn inside a robot tank. Once you beat her, you’ll go through a jewellery store, where you’ll eventually face off with Harley again inside its warehouse. From there its jumping from truck to truck, until you square off with Mister J inside his balloon.
After that it’s “A Two Sided Story”. In this stage, you’ll start off in a construciton site, in an elevator, as gangsters come from above and attack you. You’ll face Two-Face in his zeppelin at the top, as you have to destroy his gun turrets and the rest of the zeppelin as he drops dynamite at you. After that, you go to a far different style of gameplay. In this level, it’s a scrolling shooter stage, as you use the bat glider to shoot at the planes and helicopters attacking you. This is a fun level, and controls great. The only downside is it becomes insufferably long and boring by the end, as it can take forever to gt through.
“Tea Time” is the next level. You’ll go through a dark studio that becomes turned into a twisted wonderland by The Mad Hatter. You’ll go through the studio itself, battle a robotic Cheshire Cat, go through a forest of mushrooms, dealing with weird little robot Tweedle Dees that can turn electrical and do damage to you. You’ll fight a giant Tweedle Dum, go through another vertical shooting level with your character on a jetpack, and then to a giant table with giant tea cups and sugar bowls attacking you. Finally you face The Mad Hatter, in what may be one of my favorite boss fights ever, I’ll elaborate more later.
Finally there’s “Snow… In July?” which has you go through several laboratory levels, deal with robots, scientists, and armed guards as you face off with Mr. Freeze inside his floating snow dome. He’s not that hard a boss, and honestly, compared to the Mad Hatter fight, is a bit underwhelming. The game doesn’t have much of a satisfying ending as well, which is a disappointment.
The game has solid controls, and little to no issues when it comes to major hit detection problems. However, there are a couple minor issues, the most important being that should player one or two die at a boss fight, they can’t jump back in, which seems like a really foolish idea. Another minor thing is that the gripe of it being more or less a Gunstar Heroes clone with a Batman skin is justified, but that doesn’t take away from the game’s quality.
This is a hard game, but honestly, compared to a lot of hard games at the time, it’s pretty tame in comparison. Once you learn where all the important items are, know what enemies lurk where, and how to beat the bosses, you can probably beat this easier. All the same, you only get six continues max and no passwords or save feature make for a tougher experience, so it may take a while to improve. Though if a level is stumping you, and you want to advance further, just pause the game and press B-A-Down-B-A-Down-Left-Up-C (Bad Bad Luc) to skip the stage you are currently on.
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game are absolutely stunning for the Genesis. It captures the look and feel of the show in its level design and character sprites. But it especially does well in it handing of a pseudo-3D feel in certain parts of the game. I mentioned my favorite boss fight being The Mad Hatter. The fight has you shooting at The Mad Hatter as he flies about on his giant hat. While you do that, you’ll notice row after row of playing card barriers coming in from the background that you have to avoid. It’s a really well done piece of graphical work, and it makes the stage trickier as you have to learn their patterns and move fast, as the cards get quicker and quicker as the stage progresses.
MUSIC
This soundtrack is amazing. Every song is a very heavy techno theme done by Jesper Kyd, who would work on other soundtracks including Hitman: Code 47, and the Assassin’s Creed series. While it doesn’t exactly fit the Batman motif, it’s some amazing songs that can go on from anywhere from six to ten minutes in length. Pretty amazing considering this is still from a time where most songs were roughly two minutes long. My personal favorite songs are mostly in the Mad Hatter stages, including the song in the Mad Hatter boss fight. If you’re a fan of heavier techno music, you may find some gems in this soundtrack.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
When I was a kid, I rented this game for a weekend, and honestly, I hated it back then. Mainly because it was such a difficult game. I could get maybe to Joker, and then die. Years later though, after finally giving this game another chance, and eventually beating it, I found that it was a far greater game then I ever gave it credit for. The gameplay is excellent, not to mention the awesome graphics and sound. It has a perfect difficulty in my opinion. It’s challenge comes more from learning the area around you, instead of cheap challenge.
It’s not the most faithful Batman adaptation for a video game console, and the Dark Knight would certainly see bigger and better adventures, but this little footnote in his gaming history is definitely one that should be given more credit than it has been given. It’s a shame that the company behind it died out too soon, as I’d have loved to have seen what else they would have brought to the table. If you can find this game, give it a play, it’s definitely worth it.
RATING: Thumbs Up